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DASO to host Citizen Academy in January

Applications are being accepted for the winter class of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department Citizen’s Police Academy, which will kick off Jan. 9, 2016. The academy will span eight consecutive Saturdays from 8 a.m.

To date, more than 150 Doña Ana County residents have graduated from the program, which was launched in 2011.

Each Citizen’s Academy applicant must be 18 years of age or older, must be a resident of Doña Ana County, and must have a valid driver’s license or photo ID. Because of the sensitive nature of police work, a brief background check will be performed on each applicant. Academy participants must not have any felony convictions and no misdemeanor arrests within the last three years.

The academy takes class members through various divisions of the department in an effort to strengthen community partnerships through education and awareness. Academy participants are volunteers who wish to learn more about DASO. It is not the cadet academy for those who wish to become certified law enforcement officers with DASO.

Classes are interactive and give participants hands-on knowledge of how sheriff’s deputies are trained to handle real-life situations. Class members will examine traffic enforcement, understand the use of force – including the use of deadly force – observe K-9 demonstrations and presentations by the Special Response Team, bomb squad, and Animal Control. Several field trips are included in the academy, including tours of the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority and the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

The winter 2016 Citizen’s Academy is free of charge and runs through Feb. 27, 2016. Applications can be downloaded online at www.goDASO.org, and are also available at the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, 845 N. Motel Blvd., in Las Cruces. The deadline to apply is Jan. 5, 2016, and class size is limited to 25 people.